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The show presents a back-to-basics approach following Ultimate Spider-Man, focusing on the early days of Peter Parker's career as Spider-Man, while having to balance his superhero life with school and his personal relationships, while battling his rogues gallery for the first time.

Compared to previous iterations of the characters, this show is notable for a considerable emphasis on the theme of science; Peter's science geek personality is played up, and has him recruited in the genius kid school of Horizon High (a school version of the Horizon Labs company from the comic).

In the comics, Keemia is a Cheerful Child who doesn't really understand that her dad, Flint Marko AKA Sandman is a villain. Here she's a teenager who gained his powers and joined Hammerhead, even though she hated her dad for working for Hammerhead.

Oliver Osnick was Spider-Man's number one fan in the comics and become the hero Steel Spider. Here, he becomes a member of the Sinister Five due to mind control.

The Sandman in this cartoon is not nearly as powerful as his comics counterpart and other versions.

The same goes for this version of the Rhino, who is nowhere near as tough as past incarnations of the character, being little more than a humanoid brute with the mind of an animal. While fighting against Spider-Man, he doesn't even get in a single hit in their short fight.

Miles Morales is 15 at the time Spider-Man makes his debut rather than 12/13.

Played with Anya Corazón in that she's the same age that she was when she debuted—but as the show features a rookie Peter, she's now the same age as him instead of being younger.

Doctor Octopus, Alistair Smythe, and Herman Schultz are now Teen Geniuses, as opposed to being adults that are Mad Scientists just like their comic book counterparts and most versions. Likewise, Aleksei Sytsevich/The Rhino and John Jameson are reimagined as teen geniuses.

Keemia was about seven or eight in the comics when she met an adult Spider-Man. Here, she's a teenager at the same time he is.

Artistic License  Chemistry: Harry and Spidey both decide to use silver jewelry to thaw the latter out of Harmless Freezing due to its high thermal conductivity. This apparently means the silver generates enough heat on contact to sublimate the ice without harm to Spider-Man's person.

Badass Bystander: Word of God confirms that the theme of the show is teamwork. As such, the students of Horizon High, the main focused ones of course, won't be one of the stereotypical crowds of people running from danger. Their knowledge of science and technology proves useful to Spider-Man when he's in the middle of a fight.

The Bad Guy Wins: At the end of "The Living Brain", Doctor Octopus has successfully transferred his consciousness into Spider-Man's body, with the latter's consciousness inside the robot.

Beware the Nice Ones: Peter is overall portrayed as rather nice and Adorkable over the course of the five origin shorts. However, when he finally goes after the burglar who killed Uncle Ben, he acts downright terrifying, to the point the burglar ends up running to the cops and begging them to arrest him.

Peter: Save your excuses! ALL I WANT TO HEAR IS YOUR SCREAMS!

Big-Bad Ensemble: Norman Osborn, the Jackal, and Doctor Octopus are the chief antagonists of the series.

Broken Pedestal: Gwen, Miles, and Harry all become disillusioned by their respected idols by the end of the first season.

Cast as a Mask: We have an interesting case involving the Hobgoblin. Max Mittleman, who voices Harry Osborn, also voices his alter ego, the Hobgoblin, who's a hero in this series. The Hobgoblin that knowingly attacks Spider-Man in part 2 of the season 1 finale is revealed to be Norman Osborn, who's voiced by Josh Keaton.

She also voices Headmaster Rappaccini, who's similar to Samantha Vanderberg from Batman vs. Robin in that they're both influential people who at first appear to be nice, but are then revealed to be the mastermind behind oppressive cults . Their fates are different though, such as how Samantha dies while Rappaccini gets sent to prison .

Cassandra Truth: In "Stark Expo", Max ignores Peter's concern the V-252 sample is alive and states that he went over Peter's notes and thought that it was too unlikely for that to be a possibility. By the end of the episode, however, he gets undeniable proof that it's alive.

Central Theme: The show is focused on the benefits of science, as well as the dangers of keeping secrets and holding grudges.

Chained to a Railway: Peter accidentally does this to himself when a web cartridge breaks at the worst possible time. Luckily, he uses his other webshooter to throw a switch that sends the train onto another track.

Cheap Costume: Peter is shown fighting the Scorpion in a very basic outfit consisting of a balaclava, goggles and street clothes, which bears a resemblance to his costume in Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Clark Kenting: In the third short Peter starts web-swinging, but to make sure no one recognizes him he puts on a web mask. Said mask only covers small parts of his face and head. His eyes, nose, mouth and hair remain uncovered.

Composite Character: There's only one Professor Warren, who has the name of one of the comics' Warren brothers, and the extracurricular activities of the other.

Continuity Snarl: The series apparently exists within the same universe as Avengers, Assemble!. However so did Ultimate Spider-Man, which makes things confusing if you've followed the previous series and wondering how the Avengers from Avengers Assemble are now here, as the show never explains this and acts like Ultimate Spider-Man never happened.

Conspicuous CG: Pretty much every background and vehicle in the show are very obvious looking and gaudy CGI.

Crazy-Prepared: What Anya considers Gwen Stacy to be, calling her the "queen of preparation".

Crippling Overspecialization: In "Stark Expo", Ghost takes control of all the technology at said expo. He's only defeated when Spider-Man uses the Symbiote, a distinctly organic entity, to circumvent this particular weakness, and ends up defeated with ease.

Cruel Twist Ending: At the end of "The Living Brain", it seems like Spider-Man has defeated the titular robot with Doc Ock's mind in it. However, it is revealed that Ock successfully transferred his mind into Spider-Man's body, while Spider-Man's mind is now inside the Living Brain.

Dark Reprise: The heroic, triumphant song that plays whenever Spider-Man is doing heroics is replaced by a darker, slightly off-key, ominous version of that song whenever he's wearing the V-252.

Darker and Edgier: Downplayed. While Ultimate Spider-Man got much darker over the series' run, the shorts end with the explicit death of his Uncle Ben and the show reemphasizes certain bad traits in Peter's home life (such as his Aunt May's money problems and partial estrangement with his friends due to his job as Spider-Man), but remains fairly lighthearted for the most part.

Destructive Savior: Occasionally, but Peter is in particular top form in episode 8, "Bring on the Bad Guys Part 1" where his already tarnished reputation takes furthers blows from him rather recklessly demolishing scenes of crimes flinging villains Rhino and Panda-Mania around. He destroys both a bank and a subway tunnel, leaving civilians running in fear begging him not to hurt them.

Does Not Know His Own Strength: His spider powers begin kicking in not long after the initial bite in this version, leading him to accidentally knock down a door while trying to find a bathroom to puke in.

Double-Meaning Title: The final origin short "Conclusion" can signify that it's the last part of the scientific method and also because it's the last short. A third one could also coincide with Foregone Conclusion since we all know that Uncle Ben has to die for Spider-Man to be born.

Dude, Where's My Respect?: Peter gets a bout of this after Gwen gets her spider-powers and becomes the darling of New York, where she's running around without a secret identity.

Dr. Otto Octavius is short and has short arms, which makes him have trouble reaching things. We all know what's gonna happen later on.

In the second episode, Harry Osborn asks Peter to get him his stuff he built in his lab that's to be confiscated, being rather vague and unclear as to what he created and why, and dodges the subject of what the invention is. Said invention looks and acts very similar to the pumpkin bombs that the various Goblin identities use.

In a moment of uncharacteristic kindness, the Jackal actually saves Gwen's life in the third episode, though Spider-Man saw it as him taking a hostage. It later turns out this is because she's his niece.

Spencer Smythe ask Raymon Warren on how he got out of prison with Raymon not giving him an answer which brings a bit implications onsidering Raymon did not recognize Smythe and says he did not left prison

Hammerhead mentions that he's considering phasing out more of his goons in favor of supervillains.

When Spider-Man first fights Venom, a cloth covering a sign from a building that's being constructed behind him is uncovered. The sign depicts a bugle, indicating the Daily Bugle will show up in some capacity.

Getting Crap Past the Radar: While we don't get to see it being fired, the burglar pretty clearly uses a glock with bullets. It's colored blue, but it's still an actual gun.

Godzilla Threshold: When Ghost takes over all the tech in Stark Expo, making both Spider-Man's and Iron Man's usual equipment useless, Spider-Man willingly puts the Symbiote back on despite now knowing how dangerous it is, taking advantage on its organic nature to evade control.

Hero with Bad Publicity: Like in other media, Spider-Man officially becomes this in season 2 by the time J. Jonah Jameson shows up.

Knight of Cerebus: The show's lighthearted tone darkens when the Venom Symbiote is around. While it darkens Peter himself in Season 1, when it returns in Season 2, the stakes ramp up considerably.

Lost in Imitation: The show's version of the Venom Symbiote is more or less the familiar Jekyll & Hyde take on the concept, featured in Spider-Man 3 and the Fox animated series. This is needless to say not how the costume worked originally in the comics, where the Venom suit was alive and had a possessive love and desire for Spider-Man and would creep out Peter with its possessiveness and desire to control his body permanently.

Mook Horror Show: Peter's Beware the Nice Ones moments has him wanting to hear Uncle Ben's killer scream, causing the guy to immediately run to the police instead of having to face Peter's wrath.

The trailers for the two part season 1 finale show the Hobgoblin attacking Spider-Man. Harry took up the mantle of the character in this series, but as a hero. Harry attacking Spider-Man in part 1 is due to not knowing that he was brainwashed, and immediately tries to snap him out of it when he finds out. The Hobgoblin that knowingly attacks Spider-Man in part 2 is Norman Osborn.

Not Helping Your Case: When he shows up at Oscorp to assist Miles against the Living Brain in its titular episode, Spider-Man is arrested by the police for breaking in. This, of course, justifies Jameson's criticisms about Spider-Man being a vigilante.

Now You Tell Me: Miles straight out says this when Spider-Man tells him his webs aren't organic.

Obfuscating Stupidity: During their team-up with Otto in "The Rise of Doc Ock, Part 2", both Peter and Mile willingly act like goofy Idiot Heroes who don't understand science so Otto will be unable to recognize them as his students. This eventually backfires, as when they rightfully point out he didn't test the formula to cure Connors, exposing their actual intelligence in the process, he refuses to listen to them, assuming they are merely repeating Techno Babble they heard him say without knowing what it actually means.

One Steve Limit: Perhaps the reason Raymond Warren is The Jackal instead of his brother, Miles, was to avoid confusion with the Miles we already know.

Panda-ing to the Audience: " Bring on the Bad Guys Part 1" introduces Canon Immigrant Panda-Mania, a super strong criminal girl who cosplays as a Panda. She's apparently a longstanding partner of Hippo.

Power Echoes: When bonded to the Venom symbiote, Spider-Man's voice is underscored by a reverberating effect.

Quality Vs Quantity: Hammerhead believes that supervillains make more despite costing more, and mentions that he's thinking of hiring exclusively supervillains from now on.

This show quickly establishes one of the downsides of attending a special school. Peter may be a genius, but not even he, someone of middle class status, could pay for such high tuition. It takes Max Modell taking him under his wing at the lab that he can afford this.

Related to this, there isn't exactly a high tolerance for Peter being late with his projects and commitments due to the school's higher standards, with him being penalized in some way. It's only because Status Quo Is God that Peter's place in Horizon is secure.

"A Day In The Life" shows that Peter may have done the project, but it means nothing if it's not brought in on time.

In "Symbiotic Relationship," Spider-Man attacks the Vulture after seeing he's been released from prison. The police promptly inform him that they have no legal grounds to arrest Vulture, as he was bailed out legally and hasn't done anything wrong. They then inform Vulture that he actually has the right to press charges, since he was just assaulted by Spider-Man for no reason. Spider-Man was only lucky Vulture decided to let him off.

Harry tries to go up against Blizzard with only a thermal sword and an insulating jumpsuit, while the latter is controlling a giant ice golem, and is taken out in one hit.

The crook that would become Blizzard stole what appeared to be a large diamond from a jewelry store, which he later uses to amplify a cryonic gauntlet he stole from Peter and Harry. When Peter tries to return it, he's told that it's fake, as the store wouldn't keep a diamond that big in the store window.

While Black Widow quickly forgives them due to the circumstances, she cuffs Spider-Man, Spider-Gwen, and Anya because the Vibranium key they took to investigate at Horizon High meant they effectively stole government property (something Spider-Man warned Gwen about doing).

While Silver Sable and her Wild Pack are professional mercenaries who studied Spider-Man's moves and used it to take advantage on him, Sable still is a mere Badass Normal, while Peter is superhumanly agile and has Wall Crawling. When the two of them fight on the top of a flying jet, Silver Sable struggles to even keep her balance, while Spidey moves without any trouble and keeps coming back whenever she tries to push him away from the jet, eventually resulting in her defeat.

Fighting swarms of villains going after him with little time to rest in the "Bring on the Bad Guys" arc has taken a heavy toll on Spider-Man. In "Brain Drain" and "The Living Brain", Peter has become so exhausted that he can barely stay awake, making it all the easier for Doctor Octopus to steal his body.

In "Osborn Academy", when Peter is first introduced to her, he's a bit flustered when talking to her, yet takes it in stride, and is not annoyed at him for his goof ups. In fact, she's impressed with who he is because of what happened in the pilot.

In "Party Animals", after her uncle, who's revealed to be the Jackal, is taken to prison , Peter comforts her by saying how he lost someone important in a way, and then she hugs him for being a good friend.

In "Screwball Live", when Peter is trying to figure out what Hammerhead wants with a special flash drive, Gwen sees him working on it, and thinks that it's a school assignment. When she chimes in, and decodes it, Peter doesn't stop her, and is quite impressed with what she did. He even remarks: "I guess what I was missing was you.", and she gives a knowing smile and glance. Also consider how they're both not fond of Screwball and how she seems too obsessed with fame and views.

In "Spider Island Part 1", Gwen tells Spider-Man (not knowing his identity) "My friend Peter Parker has a saying: With great power comes great responsibility". Peter is very clearly a key factor in her becoming a hero.

Anya and Miles, or rather Spider-Kid, get one in "Spider-Island: Part 5". Miles manages to use the cure on a spider-monster chasing the others. Anya then says "I could kiss you!" and then Miles has that look.

Peter and Ms. Marvel have one in "School of Hard Knocks", where the two take off their disguises and pretend to be a couple to avoid being caught by guards. The Headmaster calling them "lovebirds" and Peter's reaction afterwards sells it.

Shown Their Work: The mark left on Peter's hand after he is bitten actually looks pretty close to what a spider bite looks like in real life.

When taunting Blizzard, Spider-Man mentions "Mr. Zero" as one of his potential names. Mr. Zero was the original name of the Batman villain Mr. Freeze.

Significant Double Casting: In the episode "Venom", Ben Diskin voices both Venom and Flash Thompson. That's because the latter ends up being taken over by the former. Fortunately, it's only for this episode.

Super Soldier: "Ultimate Spider-Man" reveals that Raymond Warren created the spider that bit Peter, as well as several others, in order to create an army of spider-powered soldiers.

Super Team: Spider-Man (Peter Parker), Miles Morales, Spider-Woman (Gwen Stacy), and Spider-Girl (Anya Corazon) form a team of spider-powered superheroes who protect New York, though the show's main focus is on Peter as a solo hero.

Zig-Zagged. The series is about Peter balancing his superheroics with his normal life, which is something that Ultimate Spider-Man had downplayed for a majority of its run, but still takes itself in a fairly different direction due to Peter's enrollment into Horizon High. Although, it appears that this series is much more faithful to the comics than Spider-Man: Homecoming.

Gwen Stacy's portrayal as a somewhat stuck up, condescending bookworm actually reflects parts of her early portrayal in the comics, but differs in both kind and degreenote Before Characterization Marched On, Gwen was snobbish because she was a beauty queen and a kind of Uptown Girl.

Even after Peter modifies Anya's invention to put out the fire in the auditorium, she gets upset at him for tampering with it. Fortunately, it's only for that one time, and subsequent episodes show that her being hard on him is only because she wants him to contribute his own way to the group and school success.

In the second episode, instead of showing appreciation for being saved from the Spider Slayer, Harry accuses Spider-Man of trying to get him killed and blames him for the shenanigans happening, even though the robot was apparently after Harry the whole time. Ironically, it is Anya who calls Harry out for being ungrateful.

In Bring on the Bad Guys: Part 1, instead of thanking Spider-Man for turning in Overdrive, the Police give him a ticket.

Villain Team-Up: The Sinister Six, whose membership (in promotional art) consists of the Green Goblin, the Rhino, the Vulture, Doctor Octopus, the Lizard, and Venom. The actual team in-show is comprised of Doctor Octopus, Vulture, Rhino, Ollie Osnick, and Alistair Smythe; Norman was the former team leader, Harry had been considered, and the true sixth member turned out to be Spider-Man himself.

Wham Episode: "The Rise of Doc Ock" four-parter significantly changes the status quo of the series: Octavius's arms are merged with his body, and after briefly becoming a hero, defects to Oscorp due to Norman's manipulations, which results in Octavius betraying him, along with Harry ending his friendship with Peter after finding out he's (supposedly) making technology for Spider-Man.

The ending of "Dead Man's Party" also counts, even if it is not quite as significant. The V-252 returns, and finds its way to Eddie Brock, birthing the Venom we know and love; and thanks to the symbiote's Genetic Memory, he already knows who Spider-Man is and is set to destroy his life systematically.

The ending of "The Living Brain". Doctor Octopus takes over Spider-Man's body and Spider-Man's consciousness is inside the titular robot.

Wham Line: Smythe and Warren were in cahoots for the entirety of the episode Ultimate Spider-Man, and at the end, Alistair is caught by Miles and arrested. When he sees Raymond reading in his cell, he laments that they were both captured, until...

You Have Failed Me: Hammerhead attempted this on Flint Marko, only to accidentally turn him into Sandman. The one pulled off by Keemia, his own daughter, however is far more successful.

Younger and Hipper: In addition to receiving redesigns, a large amount of characters (particularly the villains) from the comics and most versions have been reimagined through being portrayed as teenagers as opposed to adults.

Alistair Smythe, the Shocker, and the Rhino are portrayed as teenagers, rather than adults, as they traditionally are. Additionally, Doctor Octopus is only slightly older than Peter, as opposed to being middle-aged like in the comics. Clash is also an arguable example as canonically, he is indeed around Peter's age, only here, we're meeting him when Peter just became Spidey rather than meeting him after Peter's been Spidey for years.

The series itself is this for Dan Slott's Spider-Man. In addition to the presence of Clash, Horizon Labs is reimagined as a special high school for geniuses, Max Modell (Horizon's founder) is a supporting character as the school's principal, and Peter's improved Spider-Man costume is a version of the Spider Armor Mk IV from All-New, All-Different Marvel. Additionally, season 1 adapted Spider-Island and season 2's confirmed to adapt Superior Spider-Man.

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